Printed Image Inspection Method with Defect Classification

2. The method according to claim 1, which comprises causing the computer to superimpose the defects that have been classified as a group onto the digital reference image and display the defects superimposed on the reference image to the operator of the machine on a display.

3. The method according to claim 2, which comprises providing for every defect class an icon or key word on the display to disclose the defect class to the operator and displaying the group of individual classified defects to the operator in combination with the respective icon or key word.

4. The method according to claim 2, which comprises displaying with the computer the detected classified defects as a group with a local reference in the digital reference image.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the defect classes comprise typical problems inherent in a printing process.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the typical problems are selected from the group consisting of foreign objects, smearing, bent paper edges, register measurement, color measurement, monitoring of defective nozzles in a digital printing machine, and white lines in the printed image.

7. The method according to claim 1, which comprises causing the computer to derive from the specific defect class and from the determined cause a suggestion for a reaction and to display the suggestion to the operator on a display, whereupon the operator implements the suggestion after manual assessment.

8. The method according to claim 1, which comprises causing the computer to derive a suggestion for a reaction from the specific defect class and from the determined cause and to automatically put the reaction into practice.

9. The method according to claim 1, which comprises causing the computer to record data on the classified defects, to statistically analyze the data, to derive suggestions on how to avoid defects from the data, and to display the suggestions to the operator on a display for the operator to implement or dismiss the suggestions after manual assessment.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the classification of the defects by the computer is dependent on parameters that are initially defined by default factory values when the machine is delivered and are subsequently trained by the computer in the course of the image inspection process.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the parameters are trained by the computer by changing the presettings on the machine, by adapting the parameters via print job data, by accessing a central database, or by interacting with the operator.